Thrifty - Do you mind free upgrades?

In the olden days, people loved getting free upgrades when rental agencies sold out of small cars (people used to tell me stories about getting the Cadillac for the economy car price, although one guy screamed at me because he got a free upgrade from a fullsize to a minivan because he didn't want to be caught dead in a minivan).

It's always been standard practice in the rental industry that if smaller cars are overbooked, the customer gets a complimentary upgrade to a larger (and presumably better) vehicle.

However, now that gas prices have skyrocketed, I'm always afraid to run out of small cars because people no longer want free upgrades to cars that suck more gas (especially SUVs). This year more than ever before, I've been yelled at by people who say that they made their reservation six months ago and they expect their exact car to be held for them (they don't want a free upgrade and they don't want to wait, so I guess I have to conjure up a car out of thin air...). I've even had people refuse a free upgrade from a 2.4-liter Dodge Caliber R/T to a 2.4-liter Chrysler Sebring--the two cars have the same-sized engine and practically the same gas mileage.

As frequent flyers and presumably frequent renters, what does the FlyerTalk community think? Should rental agencies revamp their software systems and policies to allow much tighter control over vehicle availability? Should the rental and reservations systems--which are currently completely separated, that is, all reservations rates and availability controls are set manually based on reports run by yield managers--be integrated so that rates and availability are set by exactly how many cars are on the road and their expected due back dates (which, of course, always change)? Should the rental industry change its policies and implement extremely heavy penalties for late returns or even forbid customers from extending their rentals? Should we start charging for cancellations and no-shows and prevent customers from changing vehicle sizes at the time of rental (i.e. upgrading)?

(If we did all of this, then perhaps we could always ensure that exactly the car that the customer reserved would be available. Doing something like this might even let customers reserve specific makes and models and perhaps even colors ("At your pick-up time, we will only have red cars available")--the reason that we don't guarantee specific models now is because it's a very fluid, uncontrolled process. However, there will always be that car that will be due for an oil change or that someone will total right as the next customer is expecting that car. Rental fleets can never be that tightly controlled, so there will always be some last-minute scrambling, which often means that your reserved class is unavailable.)

So, FlyerTalkers, do you have a problem with free upgrades? What would your recommended solution be?

Please note that I am asking this in a strictly unofficial capacity purely for my own curiosity. However, I might pass on the link to some local managers and eventually even some folks at the corporate headquarters if this turns into a hot topic...

Getting a free upgrade is usually fine with me. There are a few times I've objected, but never based on gas costs. My objection comes when the "upgrade" is to a large, ponderous minivan the station was obviously unable to rent -- especially when vehicles in the category I selected or one close to it are still on the lot.

Gas costs strike me as a silly objection in many cases. Unless we're talking about an extreme upgrade like going from a compact sedan to a fullsize SUV, the difference in fuel economy between the two is going to be small. Compacts like Cobalts and Calibers get, what, about 27 mpg in mixed driving? And fullsize sedans like Taurus and Charger get about 22. For every hundred miles driven that's less than 1 gallon of gas difference.

Getting a free upgrade is usually fine with me. There are a few times I've objected, but never based on gas costs. My objection comes when the "upgrade" is to a large, ponderous minivan the station was obviously unable to rent -- especially when vehicles in the category I selected or one close to it are still on the lot.

Gas costs strike me as a silly objection in many cases. Unless we're talking about an extreme upgrade like going from a compact sedan to a fullsize SUV, the difference in fuel economy between the two is going to be small. Compacts like Cobalts and Calibers get, what, about 27 mpg in mixed driving? And fullsize sedans like Taurus and Charger get about 22. For every hundred miles driven that's less than 1 gallon of gas difference.

I agree. I always overhear fellow business travelers question the car size and the MPG even though they are driving less than 100 miles during the trip - I never get it.

The even funnier thing is that they are expensing it, so no matter what size of car they get they aren't paying for the gas anyway.

I've gotten upgrades over the years and have always appreciated it. In some cases getting a free upgrade to a minivan or SUV was helpful in hauling large items.

I agree about the gas, even at these prices, not being that big of a deal. A number of six-cylinder cars get similar mileage to four-cylinder cars due to how much harder the smaller engines have to work in similar sized cars. And as has already been pointed out, unless you are driving a lot of miles, the difference is not all that great.

I know some people that don't enjoy the upgrades though for the difficulty they have with larger vehicles in big cities, especially regarding parking.

While it hasn't happened to me personally, I know people get very upset when an agent tries to pressure them into spending more money for an upgrade, they decline paying extra for a bigger car, and then they are given that bigger car for free because that is all that is available.

I always appreciate a free upgrade, even if the gas consumption is higher. I appreciate having the extra room or features. Like a PT Cruiser convertible in LA, although it had very little luggage space. In Denver they didn't have an intermediate so offered me a Jeep, which I declined after seeing it was a softtop wrangler, and ended up with a Magnum which was great. The upgrades often have cruise control etc which I like.

I have thought about this also. However, if I was going to be driving the car long enough to care about the gas cost difference, then I will be driving enough to appreciate the comfort and features of an upgrade.